CybSafe, the cybersecurity software company using behavioural science and data science to transform security awareness and human cyber risk management, announced it has closed a $28 million Series B funding round, taking its total funding to $40M.  

The round was led by Evolution Equity Partners, with participation from Emerald Development Managers and existing investors IQ Capital and Hannover Digital Investments (HDI) GmbH.

The investment is a result of CybSafe’s continued innovation and pioneering approach to managing human cybersecurity risk. Since its Series A, CybSafe has experienced significant customer growth, adding key enterprise accounts to its impressive roster of customers, now including Credit Suisse, Barclays Bank, HSBC, FNZ Group and Moody’s. Additionally, CybSafe has also been on a mission to bolster its team. Its new Chief Marketing Officer, Munyaradzi Hoto recently joined the team to drive growth and international expansion. 

It also follows CybSafe’s recognition as a global market leader by independent market analysis firm, Forrester. According to the Forrester Wave Report, CybSafe is disrupting with its data-driven approach to managing human risk and is recognised as having “pioneered a new approach to SA&T (security awareness and training) that uses data and metrics to change behaviour and instil a security culture”. 

80% of data breaches in 2021 were caused by human error according to CybSafe’s ICO analysis. Companies need to tackle behaviour to develop a security-first culture. Yet, most security teams still can’t quickly assess the impact their security controls have on user behaviour or the associated cyber risk.   

CybSafe will use the Series B investment to further its mission to support its customers in changing human behaviour and lowering cybersecurity risk with behavioural and data science, ultimately preventing security incidents. In addition, to accelerate its product development, it will expand its team, across all roles including cybersecurity specialists, behavioural scientists, data scientists, and software engineers. It will also focus on go-to-market activities expanding into new geographies, including the US market. 

Oz Alashe MBE, former UK Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel and the CEO and founder of CybSafe, said: “Cybersecurity has always been a challenge. Keeping pace today is more complex than before. And not keeping pace has more severe consequences. This has not gone unnoticed. Cybersecurity is a top priority across many management boards, with businesses spending more time and money. Yet, recent research from CybSafe and the National Cyber Security Alliance found that 1 in 3 people have been victims of a cyber breach. Furthermore, 1 in 5 have been victims more than once. For too long, cybersecurity training has forgotten people, lacked any scientific basis, and provided no data to evidence its effectiveness. We are here to revolutionise this by helping businesses reduce risk by positively influencing behaviours in a way that can be measured.” 

Karthik Subramanian, Partner at Evolution Equity Partners, said, "We invest in founders with disruptive cybersecurity offerings that are reimagining how businesses approach the increasing depth and breadth of cyber threats. CybSafe’s disruptive approach tackles a complex problem with a simple solution. They design their products with the user in mind, ensuring they are tackling the cause rather than simply treating the symptoms of cyber risk. CybSafe goes far beyond traditional compliance-driven approaches to security awareness, and instead focuses on delivering a genuine reduction in human cyber risk."   

Hastings Direct is one of many financial organisations that has adopted CybSafe into their practices. Simon Legg, Chief Information Security Officer at Hastings Direct said, “We chose CybSafe because we believe it provides us a way to approach the human side of cyber risk beyond traditional, compliance-based, mandatory information security training. Amongst other things we wanted great insight and visibility into user attitudes and security behaviours and we appreciate CybSafe’s use of data and a scientific framework to deliver effective support to our colleagues. This new investment round is fantastic news, and I look forward to seeing how CybSafe further develops the platform."